Shabazz, a Memphis-based trainer, hadn’t heard from Darius Bazley’s camp since it had initially reached out in April. The plan was for Bazley to stay in Los Angeles, working out and training on the same summer circuit as a lot of NBA players.

Then, Bazley saw Skal Labissiere at a pickup game that summer. Labissiere, a previously skinny forward about to enter his third year in the NBA, had put on about 20 pounds, which was exactly what Bazley wanted to do ahead of the 2019 NBA Draft.

Bazley asked how he got so big. Labissiere — a Memphis native — dropped Shabazz’s name. The chain reaction got moving. Bazley called Paul, the agent he shares with LeBron James. Paul called former NBA sharpshooter Mike Miller, another client, and an assistant coach at the University of Memphis, to ask about Shabazz.

Soon enough, Shabazz was on the line with Paul, who told him they were planning to send Bazley there for a week, to put him through hell, and maybe they’d reconnect later on.

“I took that as, Rich is kinda (like), send him down there to shut the kid up because he’s bugging him about it,” Shabazz said. “And then after that, we’ll see.”

Bazley’s case was already unique. He had committed then decommitted from both Ohio State and Syracuse. In March of 2018, he decided to forego college altogether and spend a year in the G League before the draft. Five months later, he decided to train on his own instead.

Bazley arrived in Memphis on a Monday, training that day, then again on Tuesday. Early mornings and high intensity. The workout was built around explosive movements and strength training, with Bazley and Shabazz in an often otherwise-empty weight room. Bazley soon placed another call, this one to tell his agent he was staying in Memphis.

The phones got moving again. If Bazley was going to stay in Memphis, he needed someone to work on his game. Paul called Miller, asking to help Bazley work on his shot. Miller obliged, and did one better: He let Bazley live with his family until a three-month internship with New Balance, part of a shoe deal that guarantees him $1 million, started in January.

“How excited and passionate he was about getting ready and was taking it serious, it was a no-brainer for me,” Miller, who teamed with James in Miami and Cleveland, said. “Such a good kid, man, it was an easy one for me.”

On Thursday night, Bazley will be drafted into the NBA, likely either late in the first round or early in the second. The last time he played a competitive game of basketball was two years ago, for Princeton High School outside Cincinnati. Instead of playing college ball, he spent half the school year training in Memphis, staying with a college coach’s family, and the other half in Boston, with New Balance.

“Everyone’s different,” Miller said. “What works for somebody might not work for somebody else. It’s the mindset.”

The move wasn’t well-received universally, and particularly in central New York. Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim in October told Stadium, “LeBron did a nice job helping his client. It is LeBron’s client, right?” Later — after James responded on social media — Boeheim called Paul to apologize. The Syracuse coach declined an interview request for this story through a spokesperson.

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Bazley is following a similar formula used by Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks’ second-round pick from last season. But it is unlikely to become a trend.

The NBA is expected to drop its one-and-done rule in 2022, eliminating any need for talented high schoolers to get around the controversial rule. In the interim, those who want to forego college can play overseas for a year, the route R.J. Hampton, the fifth-ranked prospect in the 2019 class, will take.

“Darius is a special case,” Miller said. “He went and stuck to a strict schedule. Woke up at 6, did his workouts, then at 11, got his workouts. Had his meals at a place, to put on weight. Like, he went and did that on his own. That’s unique. There’s not many people that would do that. It’s easy to take four days off a week.”

Talk to people who have worked with Bazley and the common thread is his discipline and work ethic. Shabazz and Miller both say he never missed a workout when in Memphis. His AAU coach, Tyrone Slaughter, paints a picture of a reserved kid who obsessed over getting into gyms to work out.

The 6-foot-9 Bazley’s athleticism and length are NBA-ready — the kind that gets you five stars and one-and-done buzz. When Slaughter first saw Bazley play, at an event in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he didn’t know who Bazley was. By the end of the day, he was recruiting him to play for Mean Streets, his Chicago-based program. Soon after, Bazley started climbing the recruiting rankings.

“He possessed such phenomenal basketball skills for a person of his size, he really was able to do the things that coaches are looking for,” Slaughter said. “He could pass, dribble and shoot. He was a great defender and he was an outstanding rebounder. And he had incredible basketball skills and basketball IQ. And as I told him, he was probably as talented a player as I’ve ever had the fortune to see play.”

And yet, when Bazley got to the Nike Hoop Summit, he underperformed; and when Jeff Van Gundy brought him to camp as part of a de facto G League All-Star team set to play in FIBA competition, he couldn’t hang.

Mike Miller and LeBron JamesGetty Images

“They figured they’d give him a little experience, and he was totally overwhelmed,” Fran Fraschilla, a college basketball analyst for ESPN, said. “Not so much athletically, but just physically and from a maturity standpoint.”

Thus, the need to spend time in Memphis.

Shabazz says physicality is now a non-issue, that Bazley’s weight hovers around 215, up from 196 when he got to Memphis. Miller thinks, depending on the fit, Bazley can make an immediate impact in the NBA. Both talk up his maturity.

But Bazley will likely need to spend time in the G League, even if a team likes him enough to spend a first-round pick on him. Going from high school to the NBA is hard.

Whether the decision was good for Bazley or not depends on factors unseen and a future yet to be determined. Had he performed well at Syracuse, Bazley might be looking at a better shoe deal and a spot in the lottery.

There’s another side to that, too.

“Sometimes, out of sight, out of mind is actually helpful,” Fraschilla said. “And, had he gone to Syracuse this year and averaged 11 points a game, given how he performed in the Nike Hoop Summit a year ago, we might not be talking about a first rounder.”

In the long haul, fit matters — wherever he goes, Bazley needs a team that can patiently develop him.

“He went and worked on his development,” Miller said. “What is my best chance to get drafted higher, and not just get drafted high but to be successful when I get there? And he felt this route was. And now we’ll see.”